


I Just Saved Your Life (I Know)

by americanhoney913



Series: Julie and the Himbos [9]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, Human!Julie, Juke Road Trip, M/M, Underage Drinking, luke and alex are exes, vampire!luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29882763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanhoney913/pseuds/americanhoney913
Summary: Julie can hardly see through her tears and the fog but one moment the road’s clear and the next… there’s a man standing in the middle in the road. She screams and yanks the wheel to the side, but hits the man anyway. There’s a swooping in her stomach as the car flips over and over and over again. Glass cuts into her skin and she chokes on a sob. Her head hurts and she can feel something digging into her side. The car flips one final time and stops on its roof.The fuck?She can see black shoes, hear them hit the ground over the pounding in her ears, as they get closer and closer. She closes her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, when there’s a woosh and she hears breathing in front of her. She opens her eyes and screams.“How ya doing in there?”ORLuke saves Julie from a potential vampire attack and the two of them go on a road trip.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms) (minor), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Past Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson
Series: Julie and the Himbos [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959466
Kudos: 6





	I Just Saved Your Life (I Know)

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who have watched The Vampire Diaries, this will seem familiar. Because it is. This is probably one of the first times I ever saw a more, well, human side of Damon, and I love their interactions. 
> 
> While Luke and Damon are as far apart as you can get, I still love the idea of Luke and Julie goes on a road trip together and some of the quotes are fun... like the snake one.
> 
> NOTE: Julie, in this fic, is 17 and Luke looks like he's about 21. So, they practically look the same as they do on the show, Julie's just older in this fic by about a year.

Julie can’t see through her tears as she speeds down the desolate backroads. She can still hear the doctor, in that sterile hospital room, in a monotone voice, telling the three of them that mom’s condition was getting worse. The cancer was spreading and there was nothing they could do but make her comfortable. Even after hours of pouring over every grimoire in her mom’s shop with Flynn, every spellbook that her family had amassed over the centuries. But there was nothing to cure something as human as cancer. She couldn’t breathe, she had to get out of there, so she’d taken off before her dad could grab her arm, before she could even look at her brother.

The fog on the road rolls like waves on the ocean, makes it hard for her to see in front of her. The tears don’t help and she can feel them drip onto the rips in her jeans. It wasn’t fair! None of this was fair. Her mom had been fine a year ago and then, suddenly, everything began to go downhill. There had been good moments, very few but good ones. Meeting Luke had been the only good part of her year. He’d introduced her to a whole other world she hadn’t even known existed.

Luke’s a special kind of guy with inner demons of his own. He used to live in Havenshire back when it was a sleepy mining town, an orphan with skinned knees and hands covered in soot from the coal. Luke doesn't usually talk about his past, says it's too painful, but it's his home just as much as it is hers. Havenshire, a small town about two hours away from Los Angeles, had been his home long before it had been hers, even if he left for a long time. Julie loves living here because of how close-knit the community is… especially when half of the population has a tendency to either congregate at the local blood banks or find themselves running through the woods once a month, covered in fur. 

Julie presses her foot harder on the gas as she thinks of the emptiness of her _mami’s_ apothecary, the dried herbs crumbling and the potion bottles gathering dust. It used to be so full of life: Flynn asking all sorts of questions and trying out basic spells in the backroom, Julie learning which herbs went into certain potions, her _papi_ coming in after work with Carlos covered in dirt from soccer practice. Julie’s not a witch like her mami or Flynn, but she likes helping.

But now there are no potions in the world that can help her mami now. She’s got a human disease with no human or supernatural cure. Julie can hardly see through her tears and the fog but one moment the road’s clear and the next… there’s a man standing in the middle of the road. She screams and yanks the wheel to the side, but hits the man anyway. There’s a swooping in her stomach as the car flips over and over and over again. Glass cuts into her skin and she chokes on a sob. Her head hurts and she can feel something digging into her side. The car flips one final time and stops on its roof. 

_The fuck?_

There’s cracking outside the car and Julie watches with wide eyes as the man, who should have been dead, begins to straighten up, bones healing too quickly. _Vampire_ , Julie thinks. Sure, there are volunteer blood banks in town to support the local population of bloodsuckers, but there are also the few loners who decide that fresh blood is the only kind they want.

Julie struggles against the seatbelt, trapped inside the car, as the man walks closer to her. She can’t see anything about him besides his broad shoulders, a dark hoodie covering his features. He keeps getting closer and Julie can feel her heart ready to beat out of her chest and she _knows_ he can hear it too, is probably trying to scare her as much as possible. Luke told her once about how adrenaline made blood taste better and this guy is on a mission.

She can see black shoes, hear them hit the ground over the pounding in her ears, as they get closer and closer. Julie closes her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, when there’s a woosh and she hears breathing in front of her. She opens her eyes and screams.

“How ya doing in there?” 

She blinks back tears, tries to calm her racing heart as Luke’s face comes into focus. He’s got one of those stupid smirks on his face but she can see the worry in his eyes. 

“Luke?” Her voice cracks and she tries to hold back another sob.

“You look stuck.” He kneels down on the glass from her window, putting his hand where the bottom of the window would be if the car was right side up.

“It's my seat belt,” Julie says as she struggles against it. She can’t believe her shitty day just got shittier. Not because Luke’s here-- she’s always happy to see the older boy even though they annoy the shit out of each other-- but… “I can't get it.” She pulls at the seatbelt to emphasize her point.

“Shh, shh, shh.” Luke’s hand touches her arm and she looks at his green-blue-gold eyes. “Let me get you out of there. I want you to put your hands on the roof.” She does as he says, fingers touching the fuzz of the roof of her car. “Just like that. You ready? 1, 2, 3.” Luke rips the seatbelt out and Julie yelps, falls into his arms. "I got you.” He cups her cheek and her eyes flutter shut. His hands are cool against her skin, brushing against a cut throbbing on her forehead. “Are you okay? Can you stand? Is anything broken?”

“Uh-uh.”

Luke steadies Julie and she puts her hand on his bicep to steady herself. Her legs wobble and she feels herself falling. Luke catches her before her knees can hit the ground. He’s always catching her. Her silent, undead protector. “Whoa, you're fading fast, Julie.” He cups her cheek again, directing her eyes to his. “Julie, look at me.” Everything’s a little fuzzy, but she can see how blue his eyes are. Like ice chips. “Focus. Look at me. Okay.”

“She’s dying…”

“What?”

The last thing Julie remembers is Luke’s confused face before her eyes flutter shut and everything goes black.

* * *

Julie wakes up to the gentle rumbling of a car. There’s soft music coming from the speakers and someone humming next to her. She looks over to see Luke’s profile. His annoyingly handsome, frozen-in-time profile.

“Morning,” he says with a smirk.

“Where are we?” Julie asks as she watches the scenery fly. It’s drier than the area surrounding Havenshire and she turns to glare at the driver.

“Nevada.”

“Nevada?” Julie’s eyes go wide as she scrambles at the door, which is locked. “No, no. No, we're not. Seriously, Luke. Where are we?”

“Seriously, we're... we're in Nevada.” Luke looks over at her, that smirk still in place. “How you feeling?”

“I... I…”

“There's no broken bones. I checked.” He wiggles his eyebrows and she wants to smack the smirk off his face. Julie and Luke have a love-hate relationship sometimes. He can be sweet one moment and then the most annoying person she’d ever met the next. He loves to tease and needle her, flash his fangs at her like she’s supposed to be scared, but she knows he’ll come whenever she calls. 

“But my car…” Her head throbs and she hisses, presses her palm to her temple. “There was a man… I hit a man. But then he got up, and... who was that?”

“That's what I would like to know.”

“Where's my phone?” She begins checking her pockets. “OK. We really need to go back. Nobody knows where I am.” She wacks his arm. “Pull over. I mean it, Luke. Pull over! Stop the car!”

Luke huffs. “Oh, you were so much more fun when you were asleep.” However, he does as she asks and pulls over. Julie gets out of the car and stumbles, limbs weak. Luke flashes over to help her, crouches down by her for support, his hand on her back. “Hey.”

“I'm fine.” Julie looks at Luke strangely, kind of backing away from him a bit. “We have to go back.”

“Oh come on.” Luke throws his hands in the air in exasperation, the muscles of his arms flexing. “Look, we've already come this far…” He gestures around them as if that’s an excuse enough. She looks around to see they’re in a desert. Cacti grow in sporadic groups around them and an honest-to-god tumbleweed rolls across the road. Cars whizz by and sometimes Luke glances at them briefly before turning his intense gaze back onto Julie.

“Why are you doing this?” Julie asks. She feels the corners of her eyes sting. Her mother’s dying and she’s on some middle of nowhere road with Luke. They never said when she would pass away, but it could be any day now. “I can't be in Nevada. I wrecked my car. I have to go home. This is kidnapping.”

“That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?” There’s that smirk again.

“You're not funny,” Julie grumbles as she reaches out to weakly whack Luke on the arm. His skin’s cool against hers, undead as he is, and it feels nice as a hot dry wind rolls over them. “You can't do this. I'm not going to Nevada.”

“Well,” Luke shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans, “you're _in_ Nevada. Without your magical little necklace, I might add.” He taps at her collarbone where her vervain necklace usually sits. It must have come off sometime during the crash. She knows Luke respects her enough not to touch her or compel her. He might be an asshole, but he’s a respectful asshole. “I can very easily make you... agreeable.” But he goes and says things like that and she wants to shove a toothpick through his eye because he's the most infuriating ~~cute~~ vampire she's ever met.

“What are you trying to prove?” Julie asks as she narrows her eyes. He throws his hands up, that crooked smirk still on his face. She can see his teeth glinting in the sunlight; no visible fangs, but even his normal canines make her shudder.

Suddenly… “That's my phone.”

“Mmm.” He pulls her phone out of his back pocket and squints at the screen. “It's Flynn. I'll take it.” He makes a show of pressing the answer button. “Julie's phone...!”

Julie can hear Flynn, slightly muffled by the speaker pressed against Luke’s ear. “Where is she? Why do you have her phone? Is she okay?” They’re rapid-fire questions, Flynn’s voice stressed and pinched and scared. Julie feels bad for her best friend, but her stomach sinks at the thought of her mom laying in that hospital bed. 

“Julie?” He looks up at her, eyes sparkling. “She's right here. And, yes, she's fine.”

“Where are you?” Flynn yells and Julie covers her mouth as Luke pulls the speaker away from his ear with a wince. “Let me speak to her.”

Luke holds out the phone. “She wants to talk to you.”

Julie shakes her head. It still hurts and she just needs a minute. She needs forever to process the fact that her mom is going to die and there’s nothing witchy they can do for her. She just… she needs to not hear the sympathy in her friend's voice. “I’ll call her later,” Julie rasps.

“Yeah. I don't…” Being the asshole he is, Luke pulls the phone back to his ear and cocks one hip against the car. Not relaying the message she wanted him to tell Flynn. “I don't really think she wants to talk to you right now.”

“Luke, I swear to God, if you touch her…”

The vampire in question smirks and waves with his other hand as he says, “You have a good day. Mm-hmm. Bye-now.” Julie can hear Flynn screaming expletives at him as he hangs up on her. He slides her phone back into his back pocket.

“Look,” Julie turns to him and puts her hands on her hip, “no one knows where I am. Can we please just go back?”

“We're almost there.”

“Where is there?!”

“A little place right outside of Los Vegas.” She glares at him and huffs as she throws her hair over her shoulder and turns away from him. “Oh, come on, Julie. You don't wanna go back right now. Do you? What's the rush?” He uses his vamp speed to get in front of her. His hands are cool against her face as he touches it, turns her eyes towards him. “Time-out.” He pulls away to make a little T with his hands. “Trust me. Your problems are still going to be there when you get home. Look. Step away from your life for five minutes. Five minutes!”

“Am I gonna be safe with you?” she whispers under her breath. He’s been hot and cold with her before and they’ve been in crazier situations together. Rogue vamps and a werewolf who wanted to kill her. This seems tame compared to that.

“Yes.”

“You promise not to do that mind control thing with me?”

“Yes.”

“Can I trust you?”

Instead of answering, he opens the passenger door for her and gestures to it. “Get in the car. Come on.”

The scenery whizzes by as they continue down the highway. Everywhere Julie looks is sand, sand, and more sand. There’s maybe a copse of trees in the distance every once in a while but, for the most part, the scenery is just yellow. It reminds Julie of that sand planet Carlos’ favorite Star Wars character is from. That girl.

“So… where's my car?”

Luke shrugs. “I pulled it off to the side of the road. I don't think anyone will bother it.”

“What about that man in the road? Was he a...?”

“From what I could tell, yeah…”

Julie squints at the vampire in the driver’s seat. “You didn't know him?”

“If I've never met him, I wouldn't know him.” He scoffs. “I mean, it's not like we all hang out together at the Vamp Bar & Grill.”

* * *

The building Luke pulls up in front of, a good hour drive later, looks like it's seen better days. There’s light pink paint peeling off the front of the building and the awning has rips and tears in it that show its age. The windows are frosted over, covered in every single Pride flag under the sun. That last part makes Julie smile. Until she sees the name of the place.

“Where are we?” Julie blinks up at the faded sign, shading her eyes with her hands. _Hollywood Ghost Bar_. “You brought me to a bar?” She gets out of the car and goes to stand in front of him, crossing her arms. “Luke, I'm not old enough. They're not going to let me in.” Sure, she’s no stranger to alcohol-- she’s a teenager-- but going into a bar is not something she planned to do anytime soon. Going to the local bar and grill with Flynn was fine, but an actual bar? Do they even serve food?

“Sure they will,” Luke says as he slings an arm over her shoulder. He uses it and the rest of his body to kind of push her inside. She wouldn’t be able to escape him if she tried because he’s got vampire strength.

The bar inside is, like the window, covered in Pride flags. There’s a row of them on the edge of the ceiling, stuck into little flag holders. There are even extra holders just in case a new flag comes out. The booths have leather seats and the tables look like reclaimed wood with bumper and travel stickers under the glass. There’s a pool table in the corner with pink felt instead of green and three smiling people playing and drinking. It’s the weirdest bar she’s ever seen. But also feels surprisingly welcoming.

“No. No, it can't be.” Julie spins around to face the bar, also reclaimed wood with stickers all over it, and sees a tall blonde leaning against it. He’s staring at Luke, eyes wide. Luke chuckles behind her and Julie can feel it against her back. “Luke. Dude.” He hops over the counter and she stumbles to the side as the blonde knocks Luke into the nearest wall. For a moment, he’s got one arm to the vampire’s throat and Luke’s eyes are wide but not scared, that infuriating smirk still on his face… and then kisses him with such force that his head slams into the wall and leaves a little hole there.

Julie can’t look away. She wants to, feels something angry bubbling up in her gut, but she can’t look away. Luke laughs as he pushes the man away, hands firmly on his chest. Julie notes he’s wearing an old band shirt with the faded words _Sunset Curve_ on it, which vaguely reminds her of a shirt Luke owns. Maybe they went to a concert together?

The blonde spins around and holds his hands up. “Listen up everybody!” All the patrons turn towards him. “Here's to the man that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chances of happiness!” Julie watches as the blonde, who she assumes is the owner of the bar, swaggers back to the bar and reaches over. He grabs some shot glasses and a huge bottle of something. He pours two out, shoves one into Luke’s hand, and keeps the other for himself. “Drink up!” Luke and Alex shoot their alcohol. He wipes his mouth on his arm and sighs before he turns to Julie. “So, how'd he rope you in?” He pours Julie a shot.

“I'm not roped in,” Julie says vehemently. “Actually, he…”

Alex shakes his head and runs his hand through his hair. “Babe, if you're not roped, you're whipped. Either way, just enjoy the ride.” He smiles and pours more alcohol. Patrons come up and grab their free shot. Julie shivers when she notices one person with yellow eyes and long hair come up close to her to grab his shot. He winks at Alex and the blonde blushes before he turns back to Luke and Julie.

“Okay,” she pushes her shot away, “so, how did you two meet?”

“College,” Alex responds.

Julie turns to Luke, eyes wide. “You went to college?” She knows he’s almost 150 years old, has been around for a long time, but he hasn’t said anything about college. She can’t imagine him going to class, but she can imagine him going to all the frat and sorority parties, trying to hook up with people and get fresh blood.

Luke just smirks at her, wiggling his eyebrows. His eyes sparkle in the dim lighting of the bar. “I've been on a college campus, yes.”

“About twenty-five years ago,” Alex starts as he pours himself and Luke another shot, pushing Julie’s closer to her. She eyes it warily, but says nothing and doesn’t touch it. “When I was a freshman, I met this absurdly annoying musician. Wouldn’t shut up. But he was sweet and kind and helped me discover that I definitely wasn’t as straight as my parents wanted me to be. And I fell in love.” Alex leans his elbows on the bar. “And then he told me about his little secret, made me love him more. Because, you see, I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody.”

Luke leans over to whisper to Julie, “He's a witch. Like your mom.”

Alex tilts his drink at the two of them. “Changed my world, you know.”

“I rocked your world,” Luke says with his patented smirk. That feeling is back in Julie’s stomach, that little jealous knot that she wishes didn’t exist, but it does.

“He is good in the sack, isn't he?” This question is pointed at Julie as if she would know. Julie feels her face heat up and she knows she’s turning red. “But mostly he's just a Walk-Away Joe.” Alex turns to Luke, leans against the curved bar. “So, what is it that you want?”

* * *

Luke orders them some burgers and fries and himself a beer while Alex disappears into the back to hopefully fulfill Luke's request. Julie kind of loves how he respects her boundaries when it comes to alcohol, even if she’s starting to want some herself.

They’ve been talking about vampire lineage and how different it is from normal. Julie knows her mom and Flynn are witches, but the gene must have skipped her because she’s as non-magical as they come. Although her mom had once made an offhand comment about her blood and her dad had shut that down real fast. “Let's just say that I'm descended from someone who’s Turned... does that make me part vampire?

Luke shakes his head. “Vampires can't procreate.” She watches as he shoves a fry in his mouth, still wiggling those annoying eyebrows. “But we love to try.” He shakes his head. “No, if you were related, it would mean the vamp in question had a child before they were Turned.”

“That makes sense.” She pushes her pickles off to the side of the plate, far away from her burger and fries. She swipes one fry through her ketchup and pops it into her mouth. Whoever’s cooking this food is an amazing cook because the burger is a thousand times better than the one at the local grille in town. 

“Come on, what?” Julie looks up to see Luke glaring at her. He reaches over and picks up her pickles, drops them onto his plate. “You don't like pickles? What's wrong with you?”

Julie rolls her eyes. “How can you even eat? If technically you're supposed to be…”

Luke stage-whispers, “Dead?” He laughs. A little bit of mustard sticks to the edge of his mouth and Julie stares at it. Why does he have to look so stupidly hot with mustard on his face? She kind of hates him for it. “It's not such a bad word. As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, my body functions pretty normally.”

After a beat of silence, Julie narrows her eyes at Luke.

He opens his mouth to make another comment but Alex interrupts them. He swings by with a brand new beer of Luke and a little cup of pickles, just for him. “Here ya go.”

“Thank you.”

“I'll take that, thanks,” Julie says as she swipes the beer bottle just as Luke's about to grab it. Luke looks at her in surprise, humming a confused note. “Time out, remember?” She does the same T he did before, pulled over on the highway. “For five minutes?” She cracks the top on the edge of the bar and takes a sip. “Yeah, well, that five minutes is going to need a beer.”

Alex chuckles and pushes another beer into Luke’s hands, the vampire still a little bit in shock. Julie watches out of the corner of her eye as his gaze zooms in on his throat.

* * *

Julie doesn’t know how long it’s been since that first beer, but she feels fantastic. Like she’s on top of the world. For this moment, she doesn’t have to think about her mom or Flynn or her dad or her brother or her shitty grades that have been going down the drain since her mom was diagnosed. Right now, she just watches Alex fill up more shots. The yellow-eyed, long-haired guy from before has jumped behind the bar to help serve the shots and liquor that’s been steadily flowing.

At the counter, Julie, Luke, Alex, and some others take yet another shot of liquor.

“Ready... Go!” Alex shouts.

They all shoot the shots. Julie downs hers quickly, claps her hands and does a little dance. She wiggles her hips and she feels a cool hand against where her shirt must have risen in her excitement. One moment it's there and the next it's gone.

“That's three!” Julie shouts happily as she turns to look at Luke. He’s wiping at the little drops on his chin. He’s staring at her in awe. She puts a very obvious fake pout on her face and says, “Aw, do you need a bib?”

Luke wipes his mouth on his sleeve and coughs a little bit. He smirks at her and those firework eyes sparkle in the bar light. “Sorry I can't unhinge my jaw like a snake to consume alcohol.”

“Whatever.” She waves him off. Julie turns around to the rest of the people gathered at the bar. “All right. Who's next?” She slaps the bar. “Another round, Alex.” He nods at her, smiling, and turns to grab a new bottle. Obviously, he has no qualms with serving a minor alcohol. She’s really starting to like him.

“Honey,” one of the women slurs, “you should be on the floor!”

“I am not even drunk,” Julie says as she sways lightly on her feet. Those cool fingers are back against her skin and she shivers. Once she’s steady enough, they pull away and she pouts, mourning the loss of them. “My tolerance is, like, way up here.” She jumps up and stumbles back into Luke upon landing.

“All right,” Alex taps the bartop, “here you go.” He pours another round of shots.

* * *

Luke makes Julie eat another hamburger and more fries before they follow Alex to the apartment above the bar. Long-haired, yellow-eyed dude is there, sitting at the counter and tapping away at a computer. Alex goes over and presses a kiss to his forehead as he wanders further into the room. The other man doesn’t say anything, just nods and slides a book to the edge of the counter.

Alex comes back, changed into a fresh shirt, not covered in dribbles of alcohol, and grabs the book from the counter. “Thanks, babe,” he says as he presses another kiss to the man’s forehead. “Do you think you could watch the bar for me?” He gets a nod in response and the man heads back down to the bar.

“Doesn’t talk much, does he?” Luke asks as he flops down on the ratty couch in the center of the room like he owns the place. Julie delicately sits on the other end, hands in her lap, trying to take up as much space as possible. It’s awkward, being in a space with Luke and his ex and still feeling a little bit of that green envy in her stomach.

“He doesn’t like you,” Alex retorts. “He was the one that found me broken after you left.” He glares, holding the book tightly in his hands. “Did you know, the night you left, someone came looking for you? A Cable or Caleb or Cale or something like that?” Julie watches as Luke blanches, turning paler than his usual vamp complexion. “I didn’t know where you went, but he wouldn’t believe me. I almost _died_.” He shows them his arms, where there are long, deep scars and he even pulls down the neckline of his shirt. There’s an X over his heart and a thin line around his neck. Another scar that never healed. Julie covers her mouth and gasps, tears springing to her eyes. “Willie found me. Took me to a local clinic for the supernatural. Patched me up as best he could. There was a witch there, super nice. Once I was no longer in the danger zone, she used a little bit of vamp blood to heal me up. But the scars will never go away.”

Luke stands up, eyes wide and tearful. “I am _so_ sorry, Alex.” He shakes his head. “I have no idea who that man is, but now I want to kill him because he _hurt_ you.”

“Well,” Alex shrugs, “it’s in the past now and I have Willie. So, why do you need this grimoire, anyway?” He doesn’t set the book down but comes just a little bit closer. Luke, almost as if by accident, settles right next to Julie on the couch. She can feel the coolness of his body, smell his musky cologne mixed with that little tang or iron, the way his muscles bunch and contract as he curls his palms into fists. She can almost feel the need to punch something coming off of him, so she gently puts her hand over one of his. Instantly, it’s like he deflates. He looks at her, those firework eyes fill with sorrow before he uncurls his fist and links their fingers together. She shivers and looks up to find Alex looking right back at her. She gives him a soft smile and he nods at her. Like he can tell something she can’t. Witches. Flynn is the same way sometimes.

“I found him,” Luke says after a few minutes of silence. 

Alex’s eyes go wide. “Wait, really?” He does a little jump in his seat. “Are you serious? Dude, that’s amazing.” His smile turns into a frown. “Wait, if you found him, why isn’t he with you?”

“That’s the thing, Lex,” Luke’s shoulders slump. “He’s trapped. In the tomb. Where all those vamps were sent to desiccate.” He shudders. Julie doesn’t know what dedication is, but it sounds painful and Luke scowls at the ground. “I thought he was right behind me when we fled.”

“Someone must have grabbed him and held him back long enough for the witch to seal the tomb.” Alex shrugs. “It takes a lot of strength to hold that thing open. Even I couldn’t do it without a boost.”

“Wait,” Julie interjects, “who are we talking about?”

“Reginald… Reggie, to his friends,” Alex tells her. “Luke’s been looking for him for, well, longer than I’ve known him.”

“And who’s Reggie to you?” Julie turns to Luke. “I thought you were the ‘hit it and quit it’ kind of guy.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Jules.” She blushes at the nickname and the sarcasm in Luke’s voice. Shivers a little as he slings his arm over the edge of the couch and brushes his fingers against her shoulder. “No, he was my brother. Well,” he wrinkles his nose, “my brother from another mother, as you kids put it these days.” That earns a chuckle out of both Julie and Alex. Luke is funny when he lets his age show and Julie loves how he uses that to tease her sometimes. Calling her a young whippersnapper and other things like that. “We were Turned by the man who ran the orphanage we were living in at the time. He wanted to test his new way to immortality on someone before he tried it on himself. There was another man, a vampire, who Turned us. We never saw his face.” He shudders again. “I remember dying. Remember hearing Reggie scream as they snapped our necks. And then waking up so hungry we wanted to die all over again.”

“I’m sorry, Luke,” Julie whispers as she squeezes his hand.

“Someone trapped Reggie with another group of vampires under the church in a tomb near the Havenshire cemetery Well, trapped both of us but I got out. Someone must have kept him from following me.” He clenches his other hand into a fist, but leaves the one she’s holding open. She smooths her fingers over his and he smiles at her. “I have to get him out.”

“Well, this book should have the spell you're looking for, but we’re going to need a lot of juice to power it.” He snaps his fingers and the book opens to a certain page. There’s complex magic on it and, while Julie is no witch, she’s grown up around enough to be able to feel it in the air. It’s old, ancient.

“Is… is there a spell that could save my mom?” Julie whispers as she touches the book with gentle fingers.

“From a supernatural thing?”

“She,” and this is where Julie chokes because she’d been having such a good time _not_ thinking about it, “she has cancer.”

Alex shakes his head, runs a hand through his hair. “There’s nothing supernatural about that. I’m sorry.”

“I just thought I should ask.” Julie wipes at her eyes and Luke squeezes her hand. He doesn’t know her mom personally, but he knows how much Julie cares about her, talks about her, loves her.

“Do you know any witches that would be willing to help?” Alex asks. “We’ll need at least three.”

Julie swallows down Flynn’s name. She knows her friend is still learning, but she’s young and has powerful magic. Her mom is dying and this would probably kill her. She’s tired and still a little bit tipsy and just wants to not think again.

“I’m gonna… I’m just gonna head downstairs.” Julie stands up and lets Luke’s hand go. He frowns at her so she tries to send him a reassuring smile. “Do you think Willie would make me another burger?”

Alex laughs and nods. “Yeah, he’d probably make you anything you wanted. As long as Luke’s not going to eat it.” Luke glares at the blonde but Alex’s laugh follows her all the way downstairs.

* * *

The pool table is blessedly empty when she steps out of the kitchen with another juice burger and fries. Willie has to be the nicest werewolf she’s ever met. She’s still a little drunk, can feel the alcohol still hitting her. Her phone rings. She stumbles over to where her jacket’s hanging on the back of a barstool and picks it up.

“Hello?”

“Julie?” 

She can faintly hear her dad but, just as she tries to respond, there’s an uproar from somewhere in the seating area behind her. “ _Papi_!” He says something else but she can’t hear him. “Hold on, it's loud in here.”

“Julie, where are you?” he asks and she can sort of hear him, but the words are muffled. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah. No, I'm good. Everything's fine.” There’s another uproar, this one followed by a whooping noise. “Hold on, I can't hear you.”

“No, it's not fine!” her dad shouts into the phone. “I got a call…”

Julie stumbles outside, still a little bit off balance. She trips over the sidewalk and drops her phone. She picks it up and finds Luke’s old Camero, leans on the hood. The whole place tastes like dust and sand and it’s gross, but it’s better than being inside, where it’s loud.

“Hello?” Julie doesn’t hear anything from the phone and pulls it away from her ear, shakes it as if that will help. Suddenly, she feels arms wrap around her from behind. It’s not Luke; he would have made some snarky comment about liking her on the hood of his car. This man is just as muscular and Julie screams before he covers her mouth and drags her, wide-eyed, away.

* * *

Luke and Alex eventually agree that Luke will take the book but promises to bring it back to Alex. If he can’t find any witches to help him... they’re surprisingly rare in a safe haven for supernatural creatures, he’ll call Alex up to help him. 

“Hey,” Willie comes out of the kitchen with a platter of fish and chips that look perfect. He’s still prickly around Luke, which he understands better now. He didn’t mean to leave Alex behind, didn’t mean for a strange man to torture him within an inch of his life. Alex swiftly takes the plate from him and uses levitation magic to bring it to the right table. “Where's your girl?”

Luke scratches the back of his neck and blushes. “One: she’s not my girl. Two: I don't know. She came down here earlier. Haven’t seen her since.”

“I didn’t see her leave,” Willie says with a shrug. “She was playing pool by herself… really badly, I might add.”

There’s no blood pumping through Luke’s veins but it’s almost like he can feel his heart hammering away in his chest. He might act like a douche sometimes… but he cares about Julie. He’s had to guard his heart for a long time. He hasn't really gotten close to anyone since he lost Reggie, with the exception of Alex. Although that didn't last long because being close to Luke puts people in danger, as seen in the scars on the blonde's arm. However, this slip of a girl with powerhouse lungs and the sweetest smile and the sassiest mouth has kind of torn down those walls.

He hurries outside, breathing in the scent of the desert as he does so. There’s a trace of Julie's citrus and floral shampoo and he follows it back to his car. Her phone’s lying on the ground, screen cracked, and he inhales even harder. There’s a tangle of fear and her scent and someone else’s in the air. He follows the trail around the side of the building and into the parking lot next door, where there’s an electrical building. That’s when he zeroes in on Julie. She’s clinging to a chain fence across the parking lot, eyes wide with fear.

“Luke, no!” Julie screams, and that’s the last thing he hears before someone whacks him in the head with a wooden plank.

* * *

“LUKE!” Julie screams as the strange man who’d attacked before, speeds over to Luke and hits him over and over again with a large wooden plank. Wood hurts vampires and Julie can see some of his wounds aren’t sealing back up quickly. As if they still have slivers of wood inside them. Julie jumps down from the tank and runs towards Luke.

“What the hell?!” Luke hisses and Julie can see blood dripping from his mouth. He must have a punctured lung or a rib poking somewhere it shouldn’t be.

Julie watches with wide eyes as the man grabs a jug of something and begins to pour it all over Luke. She wrinkles her nose at the heavy scent of gasoline. She’s about ten feet away when she shouts, “No!” again. The man spins to face her and she yelps as she comes to a complete stop. He has long, vampire teeth and black veins crawling under his bloodshot eyes.

“Who are you?” Luke snarls. He gets to his knees and Julie can hear the crack as one of them settles back into place. Blood drips from his mouth and his eyes shine with pain Julie can see from even this far away.

“That's perfect!” The man throws his hands up in the air. “You have no idea.” Luke just squints up at him, a wounded animal trying to find the strength to fight back.

“What are you talking about?” Julie looks between the strange man and Luke. “What did he do?”

“He killed my boyfriend,” the vampire’s eyes are watery. He snarls and rubs at them before he turns to Luke. “Left him to die. I’ve been looking for you everywhere and I find you here, with some random human.”

“I don’t even remember you,” Luke growls and Julie can tell he’s not lying. His eyes flick to hers every so often and she wonders what he’s thinking. She knows he’s probably calculating their odds of getting out of this while he’s injured and she’s fully vulnerable to a vamp attack or even compulsion. if whatever happened has something to do with her. Luke’s never really been a vicious, scary vampire and he’s never killed anyone. As far as she knows.

But still… “I don't understand.”

“My boyfriend was Luke’s best friend. And he fucking killed him.” He points the baseball bat he’s white-knuckling at Julie. “Got it?” Luke snarls at him, making like he’s going to get up. So the vampire hits him with the bat and he goes down. He’s still doused in gasoline and blood drips from the sides of his mouth. He looks more like a feral animal than Julie’s ever seen him. The stranger hits him again and Luke groans, curling up just a little bit.

Nothing makes sense. She’s never met any of Luke’s friends until recently with Alex. She knows about Reggie, but this Reggie guy seems to be trapped inside a tomb somewhere on the cemetery property right outside Haveshire. There’s no one else she knows who could be Luke’s friend. 

Julie blinks at the man before her. The vampire before her. “Luke doesn’t have any friends in Havenshire?” She still doesn’t understand. “Everyone he knows there is human.”

“I was, once… Just like him,” is all he says. Luke looks from her to the stranger and back. Like he’s calculating something.

“Someone turned you?” Julie asks, to distract him. If Luke’s planning anything, she wants the stranger's eyes on her so he can get the jump on them.

“If you want to be with someone forever, you have to live forever.” He takes another step where Luke’s finally gotten one knee snapped back into place. “I just didn’t think he’d be gone so soon. And Luke fucking killed him.

“Maybe he’s not gone. If he’s a vampire… Maybe you guys just lost touch. You can find him again.” Julie pulls the man’s eyes back to hers. “My mom always said that, ‘When it's real, you can't walk away.’"

“Well,” the man smiles at her, an evil kind of smile, and it makes her stomach sink down into her sneakers, “that's a choice you're not going to have to make.”

“Don't.” Julie steps closer, holding up her hands, as Luke grunts. “Don't, please, don't hurt him…”

She watches with wide eyes as the man pulls a matchbook out of his pocket and lights one. It flickers in the night like a beacon of death and Julie turns to see Luke just as scared as she is. He can be an annoying pain in her ass but there’s something between them and she’s not going to let him die.

“I'm doing you a favor.”

“Whoever this guy is, he probably loved… loves you. And, if he knew Luke, he was good! And that means you're good too.” She says a quick apology in her head to Luke and prays for him to keep his mouth shut. “Be better than him. Don't do this. I'm begging you! Please.” Her whole body is vibrating with tension and it feels like the world sits on a knife’s edge. Luke glares at her but she ignores him.

She screams again as the man picks up Luke with superhuman strength and throws him against the side of the building, up a flight of stairs that must lead inside the bar. He grunts as he falls to the concrete in a heap.

“Thank you,” Julie whispers to him.

In response, he snarls at her and says, “It wasn't for you,” before he speeds away. 

Julie runs to Luke and finds him just as broken and bruised as she’d expect someone to be who’s been thrown against the wall. He groans again and she helps him lean against her. She doesn’t have Alex’s number, so she digs around in Luke’s pockets. This is a life or death situation. There’s no time to be thinking about accidentally grabbing Luke’s butt at a time like this.

“Hey,” the asshole in question mutters, “you gotta buy me dinner first.” His words are slurred and she can’t tell if it’s from the alcohol or all the blood he’s lost, but Julie’s panic rises by the minute.

“Shut up.” She grabs Luke’s phone, pulls it out of his back pocket, and quickly dials Alex’s number.

“Alex,” she says, voice thick with tears, as soon as he picks up, “out back. Luke’s hurt. Help.” With shaking fingers, she hangs up. “Luke, look at me.” His eyes try to focus on her and she can see the cuts slowly beginning to heal, but she’s still worried about him. There are some on his body that aren’t and those are slowly weeping blood. When was the last time he fed? Does he need to again after being so injured? Should she offer?

By the time Alex finds them, both smelling of gasoline and the vampire’s limbs sluggishly healing, Luke has passed out and Julie’s crying into his hair, whole body shaking with adrenaline.

* * *

Julie sighs as she leans back into the leather seat of Luke’s car. It smells like him, like musk and leather and bourbon and smokey. It’s comforting. Her body still feels shaky with adrenaline, but using Alex’s shower had calmed her down. Luke told her he wouldn’t let her in his car smelling like gas and so she’d forced him to take a shower too so they both wouldn’t smell like it. Now she smells floral and sweet and she’s got one of Alex’s many pinkie hoodies on with the promise to return it one day. Her shorts are still a little damp, but they’ll dry quickly in the heat. Luke’s clothes are the same way, but he doesn’t seem to care. Must be the vampire constitution he brags about.

The radio plays some oldies rock station in the background, a breeze coming in through the open windows. It’s still insanely hot outside because, well, they’re driving through a desert, but the wind is nice.

Julie turns to Luke as the song ends. “So,” she starts as she turns the volume down on the music, “why did you bring me with you?”

“Well, you're not the worst company in the world, Julie.” He knocks his shoulder against hers and she smiles. “You should give yourself more credit!”

“Seriously?”

“You were there in the road, all damsel-in-distress-like.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “And Flynn’s already mad at me for messing with your mom's books because I was looking for that spell. And…” he shrugs, smirk softening into a smile, “you're not the worst company in the world, Julie.”

Julie sombers a little bit. “I used to be more fun,” she admits. She did. Before her mami got sick, she and Flynn and even Carrie used to go to parties. Now, however, Carrie still goes while Flynn and Julie have dedicated themselves to taking care of her mom’s shop. No more parties.

“You did okay.”

Julie knocks her shoulder against his again and he laughs. “I saved your life!”

“I know,” he says with a smirk, rolling his eyes. Like it pains him to admit it’s true, but she can see the sparkle in his eyes. The teasing. 

“And don't you forget it!” she says with a huge smile on her face before she turns up the music.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed it. I added some bits with Alex because he isn't an asshole like Bree. This was so much fun to write because I love this road trip so much and I feel like Juke would have a fun road trip too.
> 
> Let me know what you guys thought? Did you like the changes?


End file.
